


Count to Nine

by AKAFishAKA



Series: Linked Relations [5]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Hide and Seek, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), They're all really good at hide and seek, UNO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKAFishAKA/pseuds/AKAFishAKA
Summary: The group uses testing Purah's new invention as an excuse to play hide and seek!  Sky is ready for a good, old fashioned game of fun! Sadly, the other Links came here to WIN.
Series: Linked Relations [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1517579
Comments: 27
Kudos: 361





	Count to Nine

“Wake up!”

Sky heard the voice to his left. He snuggled back into the warm pillow.

“Waaaake uuuuuuuuup!”

But it’s warm and soft here under the blanket. Sky decided to go back to bed.

“I fucking give up, can I pour water on him?” the bedside voice complained.

“Only if you want to perish,” a second voice yelled up into the room.

“Uuuuuuuuuuugh, but Warriors, he’s never gonna wake up if I don’t!”

Sky turned onto his side and cracked his eyes open. Wind sat balancing on the railing to Wild’s loft, arms and legs crossed. His frown turned into a grin when he saw Sky move.

“Goodie, you’re up! It’s brunch time!”

Sky groaned. “Can I sleep for five more minutes?”

“Not unless you want your omelet to be cold!” Wild sang cheerfully from downstairs.

“Also, it’s, umm...” 

“Twelve oh three twenty four,” Time said, also from below.

“What Time said,” Wind added, frowning, “and you went to sleep at nine last night. It’s been fifteen hours. You need to eat something.”

Sky sighed. He wasn’t escaping this one. He pulled himself out of bed, rubbed his eyes, and made his way down to the kitchen, where most of the group sat as Wild stirred what must be omelettes on the stovetop.

Legend currently was sitting backwards in his chair, facing Wild. Hyrule sat next to him, body facing Wild but still correctly in the chair, as he asked a very confusing question. “How did you get 999 eggs?”

“From nests and the markets!” Wild said, glancing back at the group.

“But why would you even collect 999 eggs? There’s no reason anyone would need that many eggs ever!” Legend declared, throwing his arms up.

“Wild has a thousand eggs?” Sky questioned.

“We went to the market to grab things for brunch, and since my slate only holds 999 instances of one item, I had to carry the eggs back to my house, leading to this fun conversation,” Wild explained, “and the reason I have so many is in case we ever aren't able to hunt and need a healthy food supply. Now everyone shut up and eat your omelets, Purah asked us to help her at 1:30 and if we’re late she will lecture us.” 

Sky took in the situation and decided that no, it wasn’t worth questioning. This led to a fun brunch where Wild was forced to defend just why he had so many supplies when he traveled mainly alone before meeting the rest of them. Before he knew it, it was time to go see Purah.

Purah stood in front of her house and research lab holding a collection of identical necklaces with large charms on the bottom. Her assistant, Symin, stood behind her.

“Link! There you are. These are those friends you mentioned?”

“Yup! There’s heroes from other times and dimensions,” Wild grinned.

Purah sighed. ”Link, if you were anyone but you, I’d be flabbergasted. Anyways, I need you all to test out these new devices I’m working on.” She shook the necklaces. “They’re long distance communicators designed to work with the Sheikah Slate to allow for faster communications.”

“Ah, so you need us to take these far away and then use them?” Wild guessed.

“Yup!” Purah said, handing them out. Sky slung his around his neck. “One of you all will stay here, and the rest will spread out then see if they work!”

“Sounds like a plan, Purah!” Wild said. ”Ok guys, let’s-”

“What if we play hide and seek?”

The group turned and looked at Wind. “What? It’ll let us all spread out to different locations more easily, and the seeker will be the person to stay here. Plus, it’ll be fun. Can’t we have fun, just once, as a treat?”

Sky grinned. “I love hide and seek! I used to play with Zelda all the time when we were little. I’m in.”

The rest of the group agreed quickly and excitedly. “Alrighty then, who’s seeker?” Sky asked. The group fell silent. Legend put a finger on his nose. Sky blinked at him, confused. The rest of the group very quickly also touched their noses. Sky got more confused. “What in the world are you all doing?”

“Guess Sky’s seeker.” Legend said. This did not offer an explanation.

“You lost nosies, Sky, you have to be seeker,” Four explained.

“What is nosies?” Sky asked.

“It’s when a group all touches their noses and the last one to notice and do it has to do whatever the task the group is arguing over is,” Twilight said. “If you didn’t know, I can switch with you if you want.”

“No,” Sky decided, “I like being seeker. I’ll count to a hundred?”

“Sounds good,” Time said.

“If it helps any,” Hyrule piped up, “I also didn’t know what was happening, I just had an itch and it counted.”

“Thank you Hyrule,” Sky smiled. Hyrule smiled back. ”Ok, here we go,” Sky said. He closed his eyes and started counting. “1… 2…”

* * *

As soon as Sky’s eyes closed, Warriors took off running down towards town. Compared to the rest of the group, he knew he was at a disadvantage. His small arsenal of items were mainly geared towards defeating gigantic groups of enemies, and he was used to being at the head of the army in the spotlight. This made him and his items not very stealthy. He didn’t know exactly what the others had in their back pockets, but Warriors could bet whatever it was, it was more helpful than anything he had.

Thus, if he wanted to avoid losing hide and seek, he was gonna have to go big. Really big. Somewhere so big Sky wouldn’t even bother looking. Luckily, Warriors thought as he eyed his target in the distance, Wild’s Hyrule was nothing if not big.

* * *

Wind had ended up running in the direct opposite direction from Warriors. He paused at the top of the hill, overlooking the ocean. When he’d suggested hide and seek, he hadn’t had a plan. He was naturally very sneaky, but he hadn’t seen any Wind-sized barrels to hide in, so he was at a bit of a loss.

At least the view from here was pretty. He could see a ton of the ocean! Maybe he’d just go hang out at the beach. Wind frowned. That wouldn’t do, Sky would find him easily. But he really wanted to go to the beach! He should’ve suggested a beach day and not this game. Wind shook his head. That type of attitude wouldn’t help him win hide and seek. 

Wait, what was that? Wind squinted at a spot in the ocean, then pulled out his telescope. It was one of Wild’s shrines! In the middle of the ocean! It was so far away, he’d hardly noticed the glow.

Wind’s smile grew wider. He drew his Wind Waker, tapped on nothing, and directed the wind straight towards that island. He cracked his knuckles, pulled out his Deku Leaf, and leaped straight off the cliff.

* * *

Twilight had this one pretty easy, he thought. He’d walked a short distance into the woods, placed his communicator down, turned into Wolfie, pulled the communicator over his neck, and headed into the mountains. He could get farther on wolf legs than most of the group could on foot, and he was smaller and less conspicuous. This was his best bet if he didn’t want to lose hide and seek and be laughed at by Wild. Plus, the mountains were quite pretty. Maybe he’d see if the aurora was gonna show up-

Twi heard a howl and whipped to his right. Ah, yes, he’d forgotten, Wild’s Hyrule has real actual other wolves, two of which were staring at him. Oh boy. Ok, this was fine. He just had to  _ not _ get into a fight with the wolves, easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

Twilight laid down, placing his head on the ground. “ _ I do not mean- _ ”

“ _ Hold on, _ ” left wolf said, “ _ you’re that magic wolf that traveled with the hero a bit ago. _ ”

“ _ You recognize me?”  _ Twilight asked, shocked.

“ _ Of course, your smell is unique,” _ right wolf answered. Twilight decided he didn’t want to think about that one much. “ _ You helped him free the dragon that lives here. You are welcome.” _

_ “Thank you very much.” _

_ “It is nothing. Do you want to come see our pups?” _

Twilight had to actively restrain himself from squealing in happiness.

* * *

Hyrule was ready. He hadn’t known what hide and seek was, but between the title and the fact that everyone had scattered when Sky had closed his eyes, Hyrule had figured it out. He just had to make sure no one found him! 

Luckily, he’d had a ton of practice making sure monsters couldn’t find him. It was basically his life. He did this for a living. He’d perfected the strategy ages ago, and it hadn't failed him yet. Mostly.

Hyrule hadn’t ever done it as a game, though. He hoped there wasn’t a rule he didn’t know about. He should’ve asked, but he’d been a bit confused on the whole nosies thing and had forgotten.

Well, either way, Hyrule was gonna try his darndest to not lose hide and seek. He’d just stick to his normal plan and everything would work out great.

* * *

“44… 45… 46…”

Sky smiled from where he sat on the ground. He adored hide and seek. “47…” He and Zelda would spend weeks when they were kids taking turns hiding around Skyloft and teasing each other about how many times they’d passed by their hiding spot.

Zelda once had (“48…”) managed to sneak around behind him for ten minutes before Sky had caught her. She’d laughed about it for days! Sky had to admit it was really funny. “48…”

Sky had one upped her, though. He’d hidden in Groose's room! It was his boldest hiding spot. “44…” He’d known Groose would go do weight training from two to four pm, so he’d taken the chance and went under his bed. “50…” That was the only time Zelda hadn’t been able to find him. He was still proud.

“48…” Wait. Hadn’t he said that already? Gosh, he didn’t know. He’d lost count. Ah well, he’d just start over. “1… 2… 3…”

* * *

“We’re in the clear, he lost count and started over,” Green said to his brothers. He’d been watching through Purah’s laboratory window to make sure she, Sky, and Symin had stayed over there while Vio acted on whatever plan he’d come up with upon hearing that they were playing hide and seek.

“Of course he did,” Blue laughed. “He’s such an airhead, I love him so much. I bet he started thinking about his girlfriend.”

Green laughed. “I bet you’re right.”

“This is gonna take so long,” Vio muttered, “It’s too risky.”

“Well,” Red pouted, “if you told us your plan, maybe we could help.”

“Fair,” Vio nodded. He pointed to the top of the bookshelves. “I was thinking we turn small and make our ways up there, but it’ll take much too long.”

“What if we combine then just go up there then shrink?” Red asked. “I assumed we were just gonna use the gnat caps anyways…”

Vio stared at Red, then sighed out an “oh.”

“You need to stop overthinking things,” Green said. 

“I know that, and yet,” Vio shrugged.

A quick application of the plan later, Red, Blue, Green, and Vio looked down from their perfect, Minish-sized hiding spot.

“Sky’s never gonna find us here!” Green declared.

“Wait, won’t that make him sad?” Red asked.

“No, it’s just a game,” Vio assured.

“It’s a game and I, and therefore we, came here to win.” Blue growled.

The group sat in silence for a moment, then Red reached into his back and pulled out a deck of cards. “Wanna play Uno Flip to pass the time?”

“No,” Green immediately said.

“Hell yeah! I’m going to win this round!” Blue cheered.

Vio met the group's gaze evenly. “...I’m in.”

“Please Green?” Red asked.

Green sighed, mentally preparing himself for the next three hours. “Ok.”

* * *

Legend was so ready to win hide and seek. He was fully equipped. Magic Cape? Check. Ravio’s Magic Bracelet? Check. Ninja Gi? Check. Actually, on second thought, that didn’t do anything for stealth, it just let him do a dash attack faster. He kept it at the ready since it looked cool. 

Legend thought through the rest of his items as he walked into Hateno proper. He really didn’t have that much for stealth. He was much more of a ‘run in and kill all the enemies in a blaze of fire’ guy. Didn’t work great for hide and seek. On a whim, Legend threw on his Expert’s Ring. Sky couldn’t find him if he was unconscious.

He just needed an actual place to hide. Legend looked around town for somewhere small a painting could fit. The Magic Cape would have to be saved for emergencies.

As he passed by Wild’s house, he saw the small extra room on the side. Come to think of it, that wasn’t really a room in the house. What was it? Legend walked over to the back of the building and examined it. No, there wasn’t a door. What was this for? Who built a house with a useless extension? Legend looked closer. Actually, there was a slim crack between the wall and the main house. Could he…

Well, he may as well find out. Legend merged with the wall and easily entered the hidden area. He popped out of the wall and fell on a pile of… stones? Legend pulled out his lantern.

He had to close his eyes for a second due to the bright flash of light, brighter than normal. He opened his eyes slowly to find the room full of colored rocks. No, wait… Legend picked up a red stone and stared at it. This was a ruby. Legend sat in a room full of precious ores.

Legend, completely alone, declared, “Wild, what the fuck.”

* * *

Hyrule stood with his hands on his hips. He looked to his left. He saw a sleeping black hinox. He looked to his right. He saw a sleeping red hinox. He turned around. He saw a sleeping blue hinox.

Yup, Hyrule smiled, he’d done it. He was completely and utterly lost. No one would ever find him!

Hyrule spun in a circle, stopping at a random point. May as well keep getting more lost! Boy, he hadn’t gotten to wander completely carefree like this in forever! Hyrule decided he liked hide and seek.

* * *

Time watched as Hyrule spun around, beaming, and headed directly in the opposite direction of Hateno Village. 

Time, upon Sky starting counting, had gone behind a tree, put on his stone mask, and emerged completely invisible. His original plan included following Sky around and pulling some pranks on him and the others with Deku Seeds, but then he’d seen Hyrule walk straight into the woods. After a good mental debate of whether it was more worth it to play pranks or follow Hyrule, he’d realized that Hyrule probably could get so lost it would take days to find him.

Time sighed lightly and started to follow Hyrule. He was gonna have a long day. At the very least, between him and Hyrule, they’d definitely win hide and seek. Plus, the kid seemed thrilled. That was enough to make Time happy too.

* * *

Wild made it to the dye shop before he started cackling. His friends didn’t know what they were getting themselves into with this one! They hadn’t banned the use of items, the fools. Now there was no way he was going to lose hide and seek!

Now, where to go… Wild could go get something useful done. Perhaps stock up on health elixirs and other potions, or buy more ancient arrows from Robbie, you never knew when you needed them. Maybe he could go fight a lynel and get some more strong weapons. These were all very good things Wild could do.

Or he could not do any of these things. Yeah, that was a better option.

Wild flipped through his slate, changing his outfit into the one required and warping all the way across the map. It wasn’t cheating because the group hadn’t said he couldn’t.

Wild appeared right outside Gerudo Town in his vai outfit and walked right into the throne room.

“And what brings you to my quarters at this hour?” Riju asked, as esteemed as ever.

Wild grinned under his veil. “You won’t believe the group I’m traveling with.”

Riju’s eyes lit up. “Buliara, I am retiring to my room for a moment. I have some gossip to catch up on.”

* * *

“99… 100!” Sky opened his eyes to see Purah and Symin still there. “You guys didn’t leave.”

“Eh, nothing else to do really,” Purah shrugged.

Sky nodded, getting up. He then frowned. “Hey Purah?”

“Mmm?”

“How hard do you think the others are going to go? I don’t really know my way around here.”

“Hmm…” Purah thought. “If I had to guess, basing my information on the Link I know… they went hard.”

“Darn.” Sky said. “I’ll just have to try my best then.”

Sky started by walking into the house he knew best in Hateno, Wilds. He checked the storage closet, then the cabinets, then headed into the loft. No one was in the house. Bother.

Sky sat on the bed. Ooh, it was still warm. Sky rested his head on his hands. Where on earth would he look? He didn’t know Wild’s Hyrule. This was much easier on Skyloft. 

Gosh, the sun felt nice. Sky turned around and saw he forgot to make the bed! How rude of him. He grabbed the blanket. Oh that was soft. He’ll just wrap that around him, he can take it with him. Sky yawned. Boy-o, he really had no clue where to look. Gosh. Sky blinked heavily. You know, maybe staying here, resting his eyes, and thinking up some ideas would help him in the long run.

Sky slipped his shoes off. Yeah, that seemed like it would work.

* * *

One hand reached over the side of Hateno Tower. Then another followed. Warriors pulled himself, heaving, onto the top of the tower and collapsed. He rolled onto his back.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH,” He let out. “That SUCKED.”

Warriors took a few minutes to catch his breath. How did Wild do that regularly on normal cliffs? This had rest stops and a surface made for climbing and Warriors was still dying!

He sat up. At least Sky would never come up here. Though he was surprisingly strong and had great arm strength. Actually, nope, it was too risky to stay here. He had to go bigger.

Warriors got up and looked at the structure of Hateno Tower. Hmm, turns out one of his items would be useful after all.

Warriors pulled out his spinner and hopped on. He positioned himself perfectly, then proceeded to jump the spinner straight up, creating another spinner under it. He landed on top. This gave him two feet of extra height. He did it once more. Yes, this should be enough height now.

Warriors jumped again, grabbing at the edge of the roof of Hateno Tower. He grabbed it, pulled himself up, and put away his spinner

He’d done it! Now he was on top of the top of Hateno Tower. Even if Sky climbed up, he wouldn’t see him! Flawless. It was always go big or go home when it came to hide and seek.

Warriors smiled. The hard part was done, now he just had to pass the time with something fun: reading. 

* * *

“I’m gonna play a wild plus four and make it red-”   


“BY THE GODS, VIO, I HATE YOU!”

“I could not play anything else, Blue, I had no blue cards and no fives!”

“I don’t believe you. Show me your hand.”

“What? No! You can screw me over if I told you!”

“You just screwed me over now!”   


“I. DID. NOT. HAVE. A. CHOICE.”

“I love Uno!” Red beamed. “Don’t you Green?”

Green barely stopped himself from bursting into tears.

* * *

Twilight was freaking out. This was the best day of his life.

In front of him were five small wolf puppies. They were all a light grey, perfect for the snowy mountain top, with speckles around their snouts. They were just so fluffy, just had the most fluff possible, nothing could be fluffier. Their tails were tiny little wires but they were wagging with such intensity. They were curled up in one big ball of adorableness. They looked at him with eyes wider than the sun but darker than the night (and the sun, he guessed). One yipped. Twilight swooned. 

“ _ Do you like them?” _ one of the wolves asked.

“ _ Like them?” _ Twilight asked, incredulous. “ _ I adore them. _ ”

* * *

“So,” Wild continued, “remember that wolf that followed me around everywhere?”

“How could I forget?” Riju proclaimed. “His name was Wolfie, was it not?”

“Yup! Now get this- it was actually another hero’s alternate form!”

Riju gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. “No way!”

“Yeah! Turns out he couldn’t turn back since the spell that brought him here originally left all his stuff. His name is-”

“Hey Wild! Wild, come in! Can you hear me, Wild?”

Wild jumped in surprise, then pulled out his slate. Wind’s face appeared on the screen. “I can see and hear you loud and clear Wind!”

“Nice! I was wondering if and also how many fish you wanted me to catch for dinner, or if you just want me to let them go back into the ocean.”

“Oooooh…” Wild mused, “I can do fish for dinner, yeah.”

“I think you should glaze them with some honey,” Riju suggested, “It’s one of my favorites.”

“That sounds great!” Wind cheered. “Who’s that?”

“This is my friend Riju, she’s the chief of the Gerudo,” Wild explained. Riju waved.

“Hiya Riju! Anyways I’ll keep the fish I catch then. I’ll see you later Wild!”

“Bye Wind!” Wild waved goodbye. Wind dropped the call.

Riju smiled. “Was that your pirate friend?”

“Yup! He’s great.”

“Less swearing then I expected.”

“He wanted a specific meal for dinner, he put family friendly mode on.” Wild winked, causing Riju to bark with laughter. “Anyways, Wolfie’s real name is Link but we call him Twilight…”

* * *

Deep breath in.

Don’t pull a Ravio and steal all the gems.

Deep breath out.

Don’t pull a Ravio and steal all the gems.

Legend was stuck in Wild’s secret treasury room. He’d heard someone enter a while ago, and hadn’t heard them leave. He had to make the assumption it was Sky and stay put. This left him stuck alone in gem wonderland.

Half of him desperately wanted to take some of the gems, and the other half knew that that would make him just as bad as Ravio, the house stealing item selling rabbit bastard man. He took another deep breath. Wild was his  friend ally. Don’t pull a Ravio and steal all the gems.

Why were there this many gems in here anyways? That slate had almost infinite storage. They’d only learned the limit this morning via the egg debacle. The only reason Wild would store gems here is if he had more than 999. Of each type of gem. No, it couldn't be that Wild had more than a thousand of each precious gemstone. But why else would he store them here?

Deep breath in, deep breath out, don’t pull a Ravio and steal all the gems.

Legend needed to get his mind off of the gems. The easiest way to do that is to look at other, expensive things he owned. Legend dumped his hero’s pouch right in the middle of the diamonds. It was about time he organized it all again anyways.

* * *

Vio played a blue 3. Blue immediately smashed down a green 3 and exclaimed, “YOU NEVER SAID UNO! PICK UP THE PILE!”

“HYLIA FUCKING DAMMIT BLUE!” Vio seethed as he picked up the rather large pile.

Green sighed. Every time he meant to place himself and Red between Blue and Vio and every time he forgot. Every time.

“I’m gonna play my green flip card!” Red smiled.

The whole room froze as they turned their cards over.

“Magenta five,” Green monotoned.

“Hold on a fucking moment I need to sort these…” Vio muttered over his wall of cards. Blue snorted. “Blue if you don’t shut up I will throw you off the bookshelf.”

“Do it, bitch, you won’t.”

“Our normal once a game reminder that if one of us dies the killer has to explain to Dot what happened,” Green stated. That quelled the argument.

“Teal five,” Vio continued the game.

* * *

Although Time was extremely annoyed that Hyrule had walked him straight into a thunderstorm, he had to admit that he had a nose for finding very interesting areas. The kid had walked up a mountain to an adorable heart shaped lake, which he was currently looking at in fascination. Time would’ve been more fascinating if he had not had to take off all his armor to avoid getting hit by lightning, leaving him absolutely soaked in just his underclothes.

At the very least, Hyrule, also soaked, seemed to be having a blast. He showed no fear of the thunderstorm and was laughing in joy whenever a bolt hit the surface of the heart lake. In fact, lightning was hitting the little lake a lot. Too often for it to be normal.

Time watched Hyrule wave his hand as another bolt hit the lake. Was… was Hyrule controlling the lightning? Time shook his head. No, that would be silly. If Hyrule could magically control lightning, he’d have told them, just like Time had told them about his own experience with time travel.

Oh wait. He hadn’t told them that because it wasn’t their business.

In retrospect, Time decided that whether Hyrule could control lightning or not was none of his business. He can have a secret if he wants.

Another bolt hit the lover’s lake. Hyrule’s laugh could be heard above the lightning. Time realized he would be here for a while and that he really didn’t care. He was pissed about being soaked, though.

* * *

Whenever the lightning hit the lake, Hyrule had realized, the water sputtered and smoked, gleaming with a light. Something at the bottom of the lake shined like fire, visible for just a moment. Then the rebound sprayed water up into a cloud barely seeable but still there in the downpour.

Overall, Hyrule thought it was beautiful. 

This was a weird little pond he’d found. It was shaped like… like his boomerang, but fat. Yeah. A weird little fat boomerang lake all alone at the top of a mountain. He was glad he was there to see it in all its glory.

Hyrule directed another bolt of lightning to the pond and laughed.

* * *

Wind was fishing. This was his patent pending, tried and true waiting strategy. He’d fished up every fish in the Great Sea, even the fabled Neptoona and the rare and undocumented Stowfish. He adored fishing and he adored eating the fish after as well. It therefore was surprising when he started to get bored of it.

Now, Wind was a surprisingly patient person. No one would guess it when they met him; he liked to make his feelings heard, after all. But he sailed oceans for a living. When you sail for days at a time often, you master patience. This made his boredom more surprising. Perhaps it was that he wasn’t moving and was just sitting on the shore of this small island with piles of dead fish behind him.

Well then, it was time for his second patent pending, tried and true waiting strategy: 99 bottles of beer on the wall. It hadn’t failed him yet, though it was much more fun with friends…

Wind smiled, and grabbed his communicator to make a call.

* * *

Warriors adored reading. It was relaxing, informative, useful, and also fun. He used books to unwind after long days of training, had kept a journal all through the war, and swore to never drop the habit. His favorite books included historical romances (he’d read Pride and Prejudice so much Linkle had to buy him a new copy), but sometimes you needed to read something stupid, and it had been a while since he read his favorite, most stupid, most hilarious book. Warriors pulled out-

“HEY WARRIORS!”

“BY HYLIA!” Warriors shouted, dropping his book to grab a weapon before realizing the voice came from his communicator. He relaxed, then remembered he’d dropped his book.

“Oh no no no no no,” Warriors said, leaning forward as far as he dared to watch the book fall all the way down Hateno Tower, “no no no nooooooooo!” Not Karen Smith’s One Rupee Cookbook, the only cookbook where the intros to the recipes acted out a soap opera but in actual real life! He hadn’t gotten to the rhubarb pie recipe where Karen got mad at her neighbor for buying a pie and not making one from scratch! That was the best chapter!

Warriors watched as the book completed it’s fall by hitting a bokoblin on the skull and killing it. Well, at least Karen had good aim.

“Um, Warriors, you copy?”

“Oh, yeah Wind. What is it?”

“Wanna sing a sailor song with me?”

“I’m actually reading, but I can listen along.”

“Cool! NINETY NINE BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL, NINETY NINE BOTTLES OF BEER! TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NINETY EIGHT BOTTLES OF BEER IN THE WALL! NINETY EIGHT BOTTLES…”

As Warriors pulled out his next book, he realized that may have been a mistake.

* * *

Riju shifted forward in her chair, leaning in towards Wild. Gosh, she’d grown, she was almost as tall as he was now. “So.”

Wild raised his eyebrows. “So?”

“Remember when you got Calyban from littering into the water supply?”

“Of course.”

“Well, recently she started doing it again, and I was worried I was going to have to step in. But you’ll never believe what happened.”

Riju paused for emphasis. Wild pressed his hand to his chest, aghast. “You can’t just leave me  _ hanging  _ like that, Riju!” Wild moved his hand to his forehead and feinted fainting. “What a cruel and unjust Gerudo chief I have made friends with!”

“Friends?” Riju mocked, “Servant, more like.” She met Wild’s gaze and the two burst into giggles. “Anyways, but really, you won’t guess this.”

“Then spill the.. Tea? Is it tea?”

“It’s tea.”

“Spill it!”

Riju’s smile widened. “You know little Dalia?”

“Of course! She’s the one who was worried about the littering in the first place.”  
“Yes. She went to find the source herself, and when she saw Calyban doing it again, she went up and decked her straight in the face!”

“No way!”

“Oh yes. Broke her nose too! That stopped the littering right away, though the little girl got in a boatload of trouble with her mother.” Riju stopped, tilting her head, looking up, and biting the inside of her cheek. “I'm gonna have to keep an eye on that one.”

“To make sure she doesn’t get into trouble?” WIld asked.

“What?” Riju replied. “No, I want her in my guard when she grows up! She’s gonna be quite the fighter, if I do say so myself.”

“Ahhh,” Wild smiled, “I think you’re right.”

* * *

Twilight sniffed around the snowy mountain. “ _ Where could they be? _ ” He heard a few yimpers and squeaks from around him. “ _ Gosh, they could be anywhere! _ ”

Twilight turned to his right. Oh, there was one of the little puppers. She’d hidden in the snow, but hadn’t covered her tail fully, so her little puppy behind stuck right out of the snow!

Twilight grinned, then walked over, but instead of finding her immediately, he walked right by her, saying “ _ I can’t seem to find any of them! _ ” Her tail started wagging faster. “ _ Now wait just a second, _ ” Twilight whipped his head around left and right dramatically, “ _ I do think I’ve heard something!” _

The pupper let out a small yelp. “ _ Ooh, _ ” Twilight said, “ _ maybe… just maybe… here! _ ” Twilight buried his snout into the snow and pushed the little puppy up, flipping her head over heels back and into view. She was cackling. Twilight had to admit he was too.

“ _ Awww… _ ” She said after calming down, “ _ I can’t believe you found me first!” _

_ “I found you first because I needed your help to find the others,”  _ Twilight assured, “ _ I’m just too bad at seeking! Will you help me? _ ”

“ _ Yes, yes, I’ll help!”  _ the pup cheered, toddling off towards a group of rocks where Twilight knew two of the other puppies were. Twilight watched her, smiling. He hadn’t been expecting to meet puppies or play a game of hide and seek within a game of hide and seek today, but seeing how these pups and how his friends had cheered when the idea was suggested, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

* * *

Green was staring at Red. He had two cards left. They were so close.

“Orange four,” Vio played.

“Orange flip, back to normal,” Blue smirked directly at Vio.

“I hate you with every fiber of my being,” Vio seethed as they flipped all the cards over. Green was the next color.

“Green five!” Red smiled, “Uno!”

“Green nine,” Green said. Almost…

“Yellow nine, Blue,” Vio challenged.

Blue’s glare said it all as he drew six cards before placing the seventh, a yellow four, down.

“Red four! I win!” Red bubbled playing his last card. Green collapsed backwards.

“You WHAT?” Blue cried, shook.

“HOW?” Vio sputtered.

“I dunno, I just played like I normally do!” Red beamed. “What a funny card to win on too, it’s red like me and four like us!”

“I… I…” Blue stammered, out of words.

“What’s that place the lifetime score at?” Vio asked flatly.

“Ooh, I don’t know? Green?” Red asked, looking curiously at Green.

“The lifetime score is 0 to 0 to 0 to 477,” Green sighed. “You won Red, like always. Well done.”

“Yay! Don’t you guys love Uno?” Red grinned, and no one had the heart to say no.

* * *

Warriors had tuned out Wind, who was at something like 28 bottles or whatever. He was fully into this book.

The main character, Rebecca, was engaged to Richard Nimble, a rich, well-off landowner. But Rebecca’s heart lay with another; she had truly fallen for Richard’s daring and adventurous younger sister Penelope with hair blacker than the night and eyes gleaming with intelligence and wisdom. But to marry Penelope meant to give up the vast inheritance of the Nimbles, which belonged to the older of the siblings, and the whole reason Rebecca had started looking for suitors was to get money to pay for her dear old mother’s medicine!

In Mr. Nimble’s defense, he was a very caring and nice man who’d offered to marry Rebecca so that she could save her mother, keeping love fully out of their relationship. Truely a kind move from the gentleman. But good men attract horrible friends, and now, in chapter twenty nine, Mr. Nimble’s friend Dr. Lestronge was trying to convince Rebecca to leave the whole scenario behind her and marry her other suitor, Wyatte Melchot, who, in Warrior’s humble opinion, did not deserve the time of day. He couldn’t even pick up the rock he was attempting to clear from the garden in chapter thirteen, what good is he?

_ Perhaps, Rebecca thought, Dr. Lestronge is right _ \- “NO!” Warriors shouted, “FOLLOW YOUR HEART AND TELL THE TRUTH TO PENELOPE AND RICHARD SO THEY CAN HELP YOU!”

“20 BOTTLES OF- Warriors are you ok?”

“I- oh, um, yeah Wind, keep that song up, it’s great.”

Warriors could practically hear Wind shrug. “Ok! 20 BOTTLES OF…”

* * *

Legend carefully fitted his best hookshot into its specified place in his hero’s pouch. Gulley had done an insane job on it. He’d known it had fit all his stuff on adventure number five, but he'd been amazed when first his sister, then he could fit practically everything he’d found ever into it. Kid would be an amazing clothes salesperson. He should connect him with Madame Couture.

Well, that had been a good three hour distraction from the mountains of wealth surrounding him. All he had to do was place his ocarina, one of the few items to have a trace of Marin left on it in the form of a small painted hibiscus, in its special easily accessible slot in his bag and he was done.

Legend looked to where he’d placed the instruments. He didn’t see it. He frowned, worried. He couldn’t have lost it, this room was six by six feet max. He just had to retrace his steps. He’d placed the ocarina on the pile of sapphires very first thing before emptying the rest of his stuff.

Wait. He’d placed his blue ocarina. On the blue sapphires.

Wuh-oh.

And to make matters worse, the urge to just take the whole pile of sapphires came back full force too. Woopie.

* * *

“ONE BOTTLE OF BEER ON THE WALL, ONE BOTTLE OF BEER! TAKE IT DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, Z- Zero Bottles of beer on the wall…?”

Wind stopped singing. He took a breath in and looked at his fishing hall. He had so many fish. Just so many. He’d stopped at around 50 bottles to clam and crab, gathering a whole bucket full of them, before resuming at 20 bottles, and he still had way too many fish.

What should he do now? He’d finished the song. Wind took one look at the waters around him and realized that they were not going to let him swim to shore, not in these currents. He’d have to wait for Wild to grab him. Until, then, he was stuck here.

Welp, Wild did say he could hold 999 of one ingredient! He may as well keep going. And he’d thought up a solution for the song too!

“ZERO BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL, ZERO BOTTLES OF BEER! TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NEGATIVE ONE BOTTLES OF BEER IN THE WALL! NEGATIVE ONE…”

* * *

Hyrule adored hide and seek.

He loved getting lost. There was so much out there to see! He’d only been like 14 when he started trying to save the world, and it had been really scary, but he’d been able to see things he’d never have seen if he didn’t go! That kinda all got taken away when he got cursed; it had really put a damper on the adventuring spirit.

But this? This was wonderful! There were secrets everywhere! Lakes that shined when lightning hit them, large slumbering beasts, glowing monuments locked behind Wild’s slate, probably, it glowed the same color, old structures and new fruits and small leaved forest spirits laughing along with him, saying ‘yes, keep going, do more crazy feats, find more amazing things!’ Hyrule got why Wild spoke of here with such passion.

And this! This topped it. A dragon, largest he’d seen, glowing green in the newly revealed sun, lightning floating from it in balls slowly, not threatening anyone but those who dared try to get close. Hyrule was fine watching it from this bridge. The dragon didn’t have multiple heads or spit fire; it wasn’t even attacking him! It was just living, and Hyrule was just living, and they could watch each other and just be for a bit. It was nice to just get to be for a bit.

Yeah, Hyrule though, watching the dragon float into the sun, he really liked it here. He really liked hide and seek.

* * *

Time couldn’t fucking believe Hyrule had found, of all things, a  _ peaceful  _ dragon. A  _ dragon  _ that did not care they were here and just was flying away. Time’s last dragon had been brainwashed and he had to kill her. Actually, that was in the timeline he left. He hadn’t seen Gia in the new timeline. He’d have to follow up on that.

Time sat down a bit aways from Hyrule, armor still off, still a bit wet, still completely invisible. He had to hand it to their traveler, for someone who’s known as much as Wild for getting lost, he had the best gut sense Time has seen in a while. Sure, he had no clue where he was going, but he’d gone directly to a small secluded lake where the water looked gorgeous, then right to a bridge to see an electric dragon, which must be rare.

Time hadn’t had that level of internal compass, gut, luck, whatever you call it, well, ever. If he had a gut like that he wouldn’t have walked into a possessed thief and fallen into a tree to another looping world. Maybe he would have stopped before he pulled the sword in the first place and no time would exist where Ganon ever had ruled. Where had his luck all gone? His first friend had left, he’d lost a life's worth of days in Termina, all he had now really was Mal- oh, that's where it went. His luck went all to the love of his life. 

Tine watched the dragon leave into the sunlight. If he had the choice to do it again, he’d spend his luck to marry Malon anyday. And besides, if he hadn’t picked up that sword, he wouldn’t know Wind, Legend, and Hyrule today. He looked over at Hyrule, who was smiling, content, at the sun. Yeah, love was worth his luck any day.

Hyrule really had to stop staring at the sun though, it was gonna start hurting his eyes.

* * *

“Um, Mr. Sky, could you wake up?”

Sky heard the voice to his left. He snuggled back into the warm pillow.

“Mr. Sky, please.”

But it’s warm and soft here under the blanket. Sky decided to go back to bed.

“Symin, can you slap him?”

“What? No! That’s rude!”

Wait, Symin? Sky turned onto his side and cracked his eyes open. Purah and Symin stood next to the bed in WIld’s loft. 

Sky pulled himself up to a sitting position. “Um, hi, Purah, Symin, what’s the matter?”

“Well, it’s 6:30, and I rather expected you to have either found all your companions or given up and called them back by now,” Purah stated, hands on her hips.

Find all his friends? What had happened? They hadn’t been hurt had they? Sky jolted fully awake, standing up suddenly. A swinging around his neck caught his attention, and Sky looked down to see Purah’s communicator. The communicator they were playing hide and seek to test. They were playing hide and seek. He was seeker.

“Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“What’s wrong?” Symin asked.

“I- I fell asleep for the whole hide and seek,” Sky murmured.

“Oh dear, did you get enough sleep last night?” Symin queried, concerned.

“Yeah I slept 15 hours.”

“Then you slept from 2:00 to 6:30 just now?” Purah asked.

“Yeah…” Sky slumped.

Purah looked him up, then back down. “Nineteen hours and thirty minutes… That’s not normal. Is this a new thing?”

“No, I’ve always been tired like that, when I was rescuing Zelda I just ignored it and hardly slept and I think it made it worse.”

“I’d bet my britches you’re right on that one! Tell you what,” she said, snapping her fingers at him, “you just call them now and say you give up and couldn’t find any of them, and I’ll keep your secret as long as you promise to come see me tomorrow so I can figure out exactly what’s going on with your constant fatigue. Deal?”

“I- you can make me not fall asleep in the middle of the day like that?”

“Well no promises, but I certainly can try!” Purah smirked, holding her hand out. ”Deal?”

“Deal!” Sky smiled, shaking her hand.

“Well, you best call them all, you’re losing sunlight!” Purah stated, heading down the ladder. “Symin’ll stay here to grab the communicators once you’re all back. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Sky waved goodbye to Purah, then headed to the kitchen table. He messed with his communicator a bit before speaking into it. “Um, can you guys all hear me? I couldn’t find you guys and it’s getting late so I think we should just call it quits and eat dinner.”

“Fucking FINALLY!” Wind cheered, “I’m at negative thirty five bottles and even  _ I _ was getting tired of that song!”

“We’re having seafood glazed with honey for dinner,” Wild practically smiled through the speaker, “seafood courtesy of Wind and the glaze courtesy of Riju.”

“You all must visit sometime,” said the one who must be Riju, “Link here has told me all about you and I am fully fascinated.”

“They can’t get in.”

“But I certainly  _ can  _ get out.”

“Touché.”

“Actually, Wild, can you pick me up?” asked Wind, “I have a ton of seafood and no real way of getting back to shore from here. I’m at one of the shrines.”

“We’ll do like a private call later, Wind,” WIld agreed.

“Actually,” Warriors piped up, “Can you pick me up too? I can’t get down. And I need to get the book I dropped.”

“Could you not just pick it up?” Wild asked.

“Nope. You’ll see. Oh, and Sky, remind me to tell you the end of Rebecca; I finished it.”

“Oh, wonderful! I will,” Sky assured. “Now, anyone else need to be picked up?”

“...nope…” came Legend’s voice, oddly distant and accompanied by some clattering. Were those stones? They sounded a bit different.

“ ~~ Put the damn cards away ~~ I can walk,” came Four’s voice.

“Cards?”

“ ~~ You all of fucking imbeciles ~~ I was playing solitaire,” Four answered, sounding farther from the communicator for some reason.

“I’m also fine,” Twi said, “just give me ten minutes to get back.”

“I… um… I don’t know where I am,” Hyrule murmured.

“I know where we are,” Time said, “Hyrule, I’m to your left, Wild, we’ll also need to be picked up.”

“Ok-”

“Oh no!” cried Hyrule, “Did I lose?”

“...What?” asked Sky.

“Time found me. Doesn’t that mean I lost?” Hyrule asked. Sky could tangibly feel the disappointment in his chest.

“Actually, Hyrule,” Time said, “you won.”

“I did?”

“He did?”

“He sure did!” Sky smiled, catching on, “Hyrule’s just the best at hide and seek.”

“I know,” Legend said into his communicator from the doorway he’d just appeared at, ocarina in hand and surprisingly disheveled, “Next time I play hide and seek, I’m going with you, ‘Rule,  _ and no one can say anything else _ .” Everyone got that message.

“I can’t believe it!” Hyrule smiled, “Thanks guys!”

“It’s nothing, Hyrule,” Time said.

* * *

Dinner was delicious thanks to the cooking from Wild and the fresh fish from Wind. 

“So Rebecca married Richard, but basically lived partnered with Penelope ‘till they both died and were buried together, and Richard got to pursue his relationship with Groundskeeper MacSwallow that they’d been hiding too! Her mom got better, Wyatt left, Dr. Lestronge got arrested for tax fraud, and they all lived happily ever after!”

“What a wonderful story!”

“Oh, guys,” Wild said, interrupting Sky and Warrior’s conversation, “Symin needs the communicators back.”

“Oh, ok,” Sky nodded joining the group in handing them to Symin, only for them all to sputter and pop as soon as they got near each other.

“Uh-oh,” Symin sighed, ”found our bug. They don’t work when they’re near each other. Ah well, more to do! Thanks guys! See you later Sky!”

“See you Symin!” Sky waved. “Anyways, where did you guys all hide?”

“I’m not telling you,” Wind pouted, “I’m gonna use it again!”

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, “My hiding place was pretty much the best.”

“Mine was pretty good too,” Wild argued.

“I liked mine!” Warriors agreed, Four nodding along.

“I… Imma stick with Hyrule next time,” Legend said.

“Same here,” Time agreed.

“Thanks guys!” Hyrule smiled. “I really like hide and seek.”

“I do have one more question,” Wind said, “Why couldn’t you find any of us, Sky? Doesn’t your sword dowse?”

Sky opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “I… I forgot.”

The group burst into laughter, Sky chuckling along with them. Four calmed down enough to say, “Sky, I love you a lot.”

Sky looked at the group and smiled. “I love you guys too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first live write on the LU Discord server! I had so much fun writing it and watching it shift from pure crack to Time and Hyrule being pure and good people. Thanks to everyone who was there and everyone who reads this now!


End file.
